Elemental Spirit
by Rakasha's Sparks
Summary: Note: Rating and genre will change. Strong PG-13, may end up being R. A story about a young girl who thought she knew who she was, but she has thousands of years of history she won't learn about until her seventeenth year.
1. Prologue

﻿ Disclaimer: I do not own the work of absolute brilliance that is Spirited Away. I wish I was that creative...

_**Elemental Spirit**_

**Prologue **

Rakasha's Sparks

The shadow looked into the mirror, watching, waiting for her to reveal herself. He would find her. It wasn't a matter of if. It was a matter of when. An elemental as powerful as her could not hide forever. Her seventeenth year was fast approaching. On that fateful day her powers would start manifesting. It may take a few years yet for them to become so unharnessed that he would notice, but he _would_ notice.

He laughed maliciously. _Just wait my little Asu, when I find you, you will help me rule the Spirit and Human worlds. Soon my time will come._

The man made of shadows continued to watch; continued to wait. He would have his other half soon. The world would be his.

At the same time another being sensed that the time was drawing near for her to reveal herself. But unlike the shadow, this being wanted to protect and shelter the one that meant so much to Destiny and Fate. They charged her master with protection of the secret and her master in turn charged her with that responsibility on her deathbed. Every city in the world watched as she spread her warning. On major buildings, transit systems and even the people themselves her warning repeated itself.

_Hide Ashika. For if you are caught, all is doomed. _

_Hide Ashika. _

_Hide. _

Author's Corner:

I hope you all enjoy this... It was previously posted under my different account name, but for reasons I don't wish to disclose I had to make a new account. Any comments, constructive criticism or other is welcome. Flames will be laughed at and immortalized in the Hall of Shame. What can I say? I'm a bitch. Thanks for reading. I wasn't planning on posting anything until I had more than the first two chapters done, but I'm really pleased with them, despite having written them several years ago, so I decided to put them on up and get some feedback now. Luffles!

Kasha

Note: I am currently looking for a beta reader for all fandoms of fics or for just Spirited Away. If you're interested I'd love to hear from you. Leave a comment or check my profile for more information. Thank you!


	2. Ashika's Demise

﻿ Disclaimer: I do not own the work of absolute brilliance that is Spirited Away. I wish I was that creative...

_**Elemental Spirit**_

_Chapter One - Ashika's Demise_

Rakasha's Sparks

_517 years ago-_

The last rays of the sun retreated behind the horizon. As the light slowly diminished, leaving the world in a blanket of dark, the horrors of the battlefield slipped from vision. The bodies of countless beings, spirits, humans and others, lay in decaying heaps, their blood slowly dripping down and forming small rivers of death along the ground. Everything was stained by death. Many of the ghosts of those who had died had yet to depart the field, so their pain and terror remained. Many of those ghosts would never leave. Such is the way of such slaughters.

Thirteen cloaked beings stood at the edge of the field, staring out at the endless sea of bodies. They had spent the last hours of daylight since the end of the battle not giving proper burial to those who had died, but searching for the being who had been blamed for all this. She was said to be a cruel Elemental, with more power than all the mages in all the worlds combined. She had been the reason for the incredible loss of life this day.

"Is the sorceress, dead?" the one in front asked. None of the beings could be distinguished by merely looking at them - the cloaks prevented that - but the being that spoke seemed to be the man in charge. Not only did its deep voice ring with power and authority, but its cloak was of a much finer quality and it held itself with a highly commanding presence.

"Yes, milord." A feminine voice immediately to his right answered. "I found Ashika's body and burned it, so that her soul cannot find a new form." The woman's voice was a low alto and slid across the man's ears like silk. She did not turn when she addressed him, but he trusted her report. She had been loyal to his family for thousands of years, long before he was born.

He smiled. "Good. Next time I won't let the suspicion fall the way it did. Next time I will succeed. This took far too long and was far too messy." He turned and walked away from the field. Tomorrow those who survived and escaped would take care of the bodies, nothing someone of his importance should worry about. He vanished into the night along with eleven of those who were with him. The women who spoke earlier, however, remained.

She turned to her horse that was hidden in the trees and whistled lightly. The sturdy draft horse trotted over to her and she mounted him. The horse and rider took off away from the wreckage toward the small stand of trees that hid two small forms and a grave. Once she arrived, she whistled twice, the signal that she told the two children to listen for. They stepped out of the trees and looked at her. One was a small boy, perhaps three years old, with vivid green eyes and fine black hair. The other was a girl who appeared to be only 13, though in reality she was nearing half a century, with pale lilac hair and black eyes.

The woman smiled at the two children. Never before had she seen such bravery in two so young, young being a relative term. She kneeled before them, handing each a small bag.

"You both did very well, I'm proud of you. Keep these bags safe until Ashika is reborn. You will not recognize her, but will know who to give these to. Until she comes to reclaim them, do not give them to anyone else. Do you both understand?" Both children nodded.

"What if she doesn't come back?" The boy asked in a very small voice.

"She will Kohaku! She has to! She promised us, remember?" The young girl answered immediately. She paused a moment then looked to the woman. "She will, won't she, Mukido?" She asked, a bit less certain that she was last time.

"Kirei is correct, Kohaku. Ashika will return. When she does, I will train her to use her powers and our world will be free again. Never loose faith in that." Both children nodded. Kirei took Kohaku's small hand in hers and they both disappeared. Mukido remounted her horse and rode away from the trees that held Ashika's unmarked grave to wait for the day when she would be needed to help Ashika once again.

Author's Corner:

Update: 2/25/05- Had to reload this chapter… I found several grammatical errors that were going to drive me absolutely insane.

I hope you all enjoy this. I'm really fond of it. I especially grew attached to my characters. Particularly Mukido. shrugs Oh well... Comments, questions, constructive criticism and other welcome! Flames will be sent to the Hall of Shame.

Kasha

Note: I'm currently looking for a beta reader. Preferably willing to look through all fandoms, including original work, but right now I'm focusing in on Spirited Away. If you're interested leave a comment or check out my profile for more information.

Shout Outs as of 2/25/05:

Alaina Isake The Kira'Sha'Tect – I'm glad you like it! I'll get back to you on the beta thing… I'll try and send off an e-mail later this afternoon. Thank you!

crazianimegirl: Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the feedback on language! I'll be posting the next chapter hopefully sometime next week.


	3. A Birthday Surprise

﻿ Disclaimer: I do not own the work of absolute brilliance that is Spirited Away. I wish I was that creative...

Warning about this chapter: This chapter all on its own made the rating go up. There are graphic descriptions of violence in this. Read on at your own risk.

_**Elemental Spirit**_

_Chapter Two – A Birthday Surprise_

Rakasha's Sparks

_Shadow Realm_

The shadows gathered, surging around their master, waiting for his instructions. As they melted into one another, changing shape from one hideous form to another, they listened to his maniacal laughter, knowing their time to be released into the Mortal World was drawing closer. _Look closely, my beloved ones. This is the place you will go to._

His dark twisted voice rang through their heads, filling them with a sick joy. In the mirror humans went about their daily lives, completely unaware of the evil watching them, preparing their final demise. The shadows surged, swiftly heading for the barrier between worlds, eager to fulfill their master's bidding. They would go to this city and destroy all living there until Ashika showed herself. Soon she would be reunited with their master again…then the shadows would really begin to have fun.

_Yokohama, Japan_

Chihiro sat flopped across the chair in her parents' living room, listening to the news reports while idly sketching in her notebook. She was hardly paying attention to the movements her hands were making on the page. when her mother sat down on the arm of the chair, looking at the detailed sketch.

"Chihiro! This is beautiful… You're really becoming quite the artist."

Taken by surprise, Chihiro looked down and choked back a gasp. Without paying any attention she had sketched out the image of her first encounter with Haku in front of Yubaba's Bath House. She stared at the details of her own young form, staring at his intense one. Occasionally she would sketch out a similar scene to this, remembering her time in the Spirit World, but never without intent or attention. She mentally shrugged it off, muttering her thanks to her mother and closing the notebook. She still had to get ready for the birthday dinner her parents were taking her to.

Every year. Every single stinking year they did this to her. Chihiro loved her parents dearly, but she really wished that they would stop bringing her out to restaurants on her birthday simply to humiliate her. With her cheeks burning up, Chihiro slid further down in her chair as the group of waiters sang a snappy birthday song to her that was unique to the restaurant, but exactly the same as every other song she had heard on her birthday for as long as she could remember. Grudgingly, she blew out the candle and endured the cheers and clapping around her, angrily noting that many of the patrons had joined in on her misery.

She looked up, about to glare at her parents, when she saw their beaming faces. They really enjoyed celebrating her birthday with her. This dinner had become an annual event for them. She smiled at them, offering each a spoon so they could attack the massive slice of ice cream pie with her, glowing inside.

The small family walked out of the movie theater, not expecting the horror that was about to befall them. Something had been nagging at Chihiro since their dinner. It was as if a writhing ball of filth was heading towards her, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out what that could be.

She paused on the sidewalk, her parents still making their way towards their beat up old car. A sudden fierce wind howled through the city, blocking her scream of fear as a hoard of monsters descended on her parents, completely enveloping them, blocking them from her view. She tried to run towards them, but the wind held her back, keeping her captive as she watched her parents slowly being torn apart in front of her eyes.

Suddenly everything stopped, all sound and wind and movement, except the massive shadow slowly retreating and her parents' raw forms falling to the ground as if in slow motion. Slowly, as if in a trance, Chihiro made her way towards her parents, kneeling down in between them and placing a hand on each of them. She couldn't even recognize them by looking at them. They still vaguely resembled humans, but they had no skin or hair on their entire body. She looked at them, at the empty sockets that used to hold their eyes, their skull was torn open and all that could be seen inside were fragments of bone and scraps of brain tissue. Their chest cavities were torn open, as were their abdomens, no traces of any organs left within them.

Chihiro slumped over in between the parents, releasing the bile that rebelled from her stomach and crying bitterly, the sobs issuing from her throat sounding more animalistic than human. She looked up at the mass of shadows on the other side of the street, not questioning why they weren't attacking her, only caring that she know who murdered her only family. As her anger and hatred for these creatures grew, something inside of her snapped. A scream of rage tore itself free from her as the bodies of her parents exploded, covering her in blood and bits of tissues. In the sky, menacing looking clouds built out of nothing, a roaring sound issuing from them as explosions of fire went off within them.

And then the heavens rained down their rage at the evil that had disturbed this city. Fire and lightening destroyed everything for miles in the city, one distraught little girl sitting protected in the eye of the storm, comforted slightly by the rage that nature released in order to protect and avenge her pain.

Eventually, everything stopped. Chihiro sat in the midst of two blood stains looking at where the shadows' charred forms lay broken and destroyed. All around her, the downtown area of Yokohama smoldered, no building left standing for miles on any side of her. After several hours, Chihiro stood. Slowly she began the long, lonely walk back to her home.

The country was panicked. No one knew what exactly had happened; eventually the government released a statement that this was a rare natural phenomenon. While no one could be sure whether it would happen again, it was thought to be unlikely. All the while a young woman hid in her home, not answering the calls of condolence when her friends heard her parents had died, not touching food, focusing only on silently drawing the last mementos of her beloved parents, tears streaming down her face and she struggled past her grief to remember every detail of their faces, trying to capture their essence on paper so as never to forget.

_Spirit World_

"Zaniba?"  
"Yes, Kirei?"  
"I need the spell books my mistress left for Ashika."  
"Why?"  
"She has awoken."

The cold cruel reality of the situation hit him. The worlds were at the brink of a war that could well destroy everything, and almost no one knew anything about it. He watched as the waves pounded against the shore, seeking to claim him as their own. Shifting to his dragon form, Haku dove into the ocean, racing towards the secret cave which hid the small bag he had held in his possession for more than 500 years, silently praying to whatever Gods would listen that Chihiro be protected from the coming tides.

Author's Corner:

Sorry guys! I meant to have this posted yesterday! >. Anyway, I should have another chapter ready by the end of the week! **A BIG THANKS TO ALAINA FOR BETA-ING! **I hope you all enjoy! ... Comments, questions, constructive criticism and other welcome! Flames will be sent to the Hall of Shame.

_Kasha_


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